By Shawn McGrath
shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com
Nearly a week after he broke out of the medium-security Westville Correctional Facility in northern Indiana, 40-year-old Kelvin J. Fuller remains on the run, and police now believe he stopped in Anderson shortly after he escaped.
Anderson police Detective Joel Sandefur, the department’s spokesman, said investigators suspect Fuller was the man who beat and robbed a Village Pantry convenience store early Thursday.
“He looked very similar to the person who robbed the Fishers bank,” Sandefur said.
In the robbery, a man came into the store at 1000 Cross St. about 4 a.m., walked up to the counter and demanded money. Sandefur said previously that the robber claimed to have a gun, but one wasn’t displayed.
The 57-year-old clerk tried to get away, but the robber stopped him from leaving and hit him in the face. The robber then forced the clerk to return to the register and made him open it, Sandefur previously said. The robber fled with an undisclosed amount of money
Police say the robber was a 5-foot-8 inch to 6-foot-tall black man with a stocky build, black hair, a gray scruffy beard and mustache, and wearing a light gray sports shirt and tan pants, a description that matches Fuller’s appearance in surveillance photos taken Thursday during the Fifth/Third Bank branch robbery in Fishers.
Sandefur said Monday that, along with robbing the Village Pantry, Fuller may have visited Saint John’s Medical Center the day he escaped.
Investigators have information that he likely stopped by the hospital about 8 p.m. Wednesday, possibly looking for food.
“He said he needed to find a vending machine,” Sandefur said. “He went to the vending machines and left.
‘We really don’t know (why he went to the hospital). He was there 15 minutes and he left.”
Daleville police apprehended a man they initially believed to be Fuller shortly before 5 p.m. Monday.
Officers in the Delaware County town stopped a vehicle for speeding about 4:45 p.m., and the driver apparently resembled Fuller and didn’t have ID, Sandefur said.
The man was able to prove his identity about a half-hour later and was released. Daleville police couldn’t be reached for comment.
Fuller told The Herald Bulletin during a 30- to 40-minute call late Saturday that he escaped the prison early Wednesday to seek treatment for a stomach ailment. He said he has been feeling nauseous for several weeks, and prison staff weren’t responsive in treating him. He said he planned on finding a doctor who would be willing to treat his ailment without alerting authorities.
Fuller pleaded guilty in October 1992 to charges of armed robbery, burglary and arson.
The arson and burglary charges stemmed from Fuller breaking in and setting fire to the Anderson offices of gospel singer Sandi Patty at 2200 Madison Square in April 1990. The blaze caused an estimated $650,000 in damage.
His earliest possible release date was March 2012, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Have a tip?
Kelvin Fuller, 40, a former Anderson resident who escaped from the Westville Correctional Facility in northern Indiana on Wednesday, is described as being black, weighing 175 pounds and standing about 5 feet 9. He was last seen driving a white 2004 Chevrolet Malibu with an Indiana “In God We Trust” license plate with number WI7309. He is considered dangerous. Anyone with information should call the Anderson Police Department at (765) 648-6700 or the Indiana State Police Pendleton Post at (765) 778-7171.
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